As we all know, Freddy Adu, Landon Donovan's successor as US Soccer's golden boy, made a summer move to Benfica. Interesting story below about what Freddy has to prove at Benfica. The author is a bit harsh about the Adu-hype machine, but I do agree that its time for Freddy to deliver on the field, and if his performance at the U-20 WC is any indication, I think he's a good bet to impress.
My biggest concern is whether he falls victim to the age old problem of having to impress a new coach who is likely to bring in his own favorite players, and who has nothing invested in the players already with the team:
I for one am stoked to see what Freddy can do with regular training with high-level talent. He'll be 21 at WC 2010, so there's no reason to think he can't make the USMNT and contribute.
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I think the experience will be helpful for him, but I don't expect him to thrive right away. I think this could be a situation more like Bobby Convey's when he first went over to Reading. He was all high on himself, but his manager (Coppell) firmly yet productively put him in his place. A hard-working year later Bobby's contributing massively to the best Championship run ever. If only Freddy had a Coppell around. Point, though, is that he'll need time to try and adjust. And, I hope he realizes, he still has to work his butt off.
Watch out Freddy, Jozy's about set to claim your poster-boy spot.
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